Play for the sake of play, without any secondary goals, if of utmost importance for children's wellbeing and development. In this book you'll find guidelines to support children with disabilities' play. Providing ready-to-use information in a lay-person language, this book is for parents, teachers, rehabilitation professionals, toy manufacturers, policy makers and all persons interested in the topic of play for children with disabilities.

Introduction to the core concepts of teaching and supporting children with disabilities alongside their peers will help teachers ensure that all children meet their potential.

The needs of children and parents about play when the child has a disability are explored by mean on surveys to disability associations and families were collected during 2016 in 30 countries by members of the EU COST LUDI network Play for children with disability.The users' needs concerning play for children with disabilities are also explored by mean of case studies at a country level, based on literature reviews of avialable reports and emprirical studies in Finland, Lithuania and Sweden.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

In the movement toward standards-based education, an important question stands out: How will this reform affect the 10% of school-aged children who have disabilities and thus qualify for special education? In Educating One and All, an expert committee addresses how to reconcile common learning for all students with individualized education for "one"â€"the unique student. The book makes recommendations to states and communities that have adopted standards-based reform and that seek policies and practices to make reform consistent with the requirements of special education. The committee explores the ideas, implementation issues, and legislative initiatives behind the tradition of special education for people with disabilities. It investigates the policy and practice implications of the current reform movement toward high educational standards for all students. Educating One and All examines the curricula and expected outcomes of standards-based education and the educational experience of students with disabilitiesâ€"and identifies points of alignment between the two areas. The volume documents the diverse population of students with disabilities and their school experiences. Because approaches to assessment and accountability are key to standards-based reforms, the committee analyzes how assessment systems currently address students with disabilities, including testing accommodations. The book addresses legal and resource implications, as well as parental participation in children's education.

Hospitalization can cause short-term to long-term issues to children’s biopsychosocial health. Play strategies have played a key role in preventing hospitalization trauma. Properly trained play specialists provide children with structured play activities that have proven to be effective in diminishing anxiety, depression, and negative emotions among in-patient children and their parents. These techniques are beneficial to ameliorating children’s and parents’ coping strategies and treatment compliance. However, discrepancies among countries’ healthcare systems in recognizing the value of play highlights the need for major awareness in the field. The Handbook of Research on Play Specialism Strategies to Prevent Pediatric Hospitalization Trauma spreads knowledge about the potential of playing to protect and increase children's health during hospitalization. The book focuses on play strategies counteracting pediatric patients’ trauma, anxiety, depression, and other biopsychosocial negative consequences. It discusses the rights of hospitalized children and the strengths of the play specialism approach. Covering topics such as chronically ill children, pediatric oncology, and culturally sustaining practices, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for child psychologists, psychotherapists, neuroscientists, pedagogists, psychiatrists, nurses, physicians, health sociologists, pediatricians, play specialists, students and faculty of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.